Car crashes into barricades: accident during farmers’ protest in France – one woman dead

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A farmer has apparently been killed in an accident linked to farmers’ protests in France. Her husband and her 14-year-old daughter were seriously injured, the public prosecutor’s office in Foix, southern France, said on Tuesday.

A car had crashed into a straw bale barricade on a closed highway. In France, farmers have been protesting for days against the government’s agricultural policy.

According to initial findings, the farmer’s death was an accident, which was partly due to poor lighting conditions. The street was not lit and the straw bale blockade was covered with black tarpaulins, according to the Public Prosecution Service.

The prisoners are being investigated for manslaughter

Several protest participants gathered behind the barricade, including the affected family. The three occupants of the car, all from Armenia, have been taken into custody by the police. The Public Prosecution Service is investigating manslaughter.

French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal expressed his condolences to the relatives. “The nation is shocked and in solidarity,” he wrote on the online service X. Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau was expected at the scene of the accident that evening.

“This drama justifies our struggle all the more,” vice-chairman of the farmers’ association Luc Smessaert told the BFM broadcaster. French farmers’ protest is against what they see as excessive bureaucratic demands and inadequate pay.

250 tractors block highways

The head of the farmers’ association FNSEA, Arnaud Rousseau, called for lower prices for agricultural diesel. French farmers can already get a refund of part of the tax on agricultural diesel, but they must submit an application for this. Compared to the previous year, the price of agricultural diesel has increased significantly.

After a meeting between the farmers’ association and Prime Minister Attal ended inconclusively on Monday, protesting farmers blocked several highways in different parts of the country with tractors on Tuesday. About 250 tractors were involved in a blockade around Albi in southern France. In Agen, demonstrators dumped manure, car tires and cattle bones in front of the prefecture.

President Emmanuel Macron said on the online service X on Tuesday: “To our farmers: I have asked the government to take action to provide concrete solutions to your problems.” (AFP)

Source: Blick